Family Laws

Family laws cover a wide ambit of laws, They affect individuals at personal level. The justification for having laws that affect the most private aspects of our life is to ensure protection of individual rights and to uphold certain norms that are essential to human dignity.  In the changing times Family laws have affected many other aspects of laws in India. Even Corporate structures of companies can get affected by the influence of family laws. The Hindu undivided family is one prime example of the same. Moreover, Family laws involve many aspects like Adoption and Child Custody, Marriage, divorce, Alimony / Maintenance and so on.   

Family law mediation is always preferred because in most cases, the conflicts are due to misunderstandings, ego issues, addiction etc. Such disputes can be solved with some counselling; however, since they are not legally binding and informal in nature, they are prone to violation and may not be taken seriously. The greatest sufferers are the children.

Family Law incorporates a broad range of topics like divorce, child custody, visitation rights, alimony, adoption, guardianship, child support, child protection and domestic violence, Dowry related matters, Pre and Postnuptial Agreements, Visitation,   Restraining orders,  Guardianships,  Emancipation,   Juvenile crimes/dependencies etc.

CHALLENGES

• Concepts hitherto unknown like live-in relationships have led to complications and created more freedom in relationships.
• Attitude towards the institution of marriage has changed; marriages are broken often without much serious thought.
• It has been noted by judiciary in India that many a times prohibition of Dowry laws have been misused as a tool to pressurize the groom and his family. Such cases are very difficult to differentiate and have to be studied individually.

OBSERVATIONS

The stand of courts is changing gradually. Earlier, a complaint by a female would have led to the entire family of groom going behind bar. Now Courts consider the other side of the story before interfering in the personal lives of a family. It has also been noted that as more and more women are educated and self- dependent, the alimony earlier offered to them has been excused. The courts have infact asked the women to pay their husbands for maintenance. This is a welcome change where society is slowly moving towards providing equal recognition to both men and women in society.